A couple of years ago my mum and grandmother kept forwarding me links asking if they were safe. myGov, Australia Post, the usual suspects. I got tired of explaining it every time so I built a basic iOS app - condition statements checking the URL string, nothing fancy. Best I could do at the time, plus I paid a developer to help get it across the line.
Fast forward two years. I have about 10 years in cyber and identity security, so I knew what I actually wanted in a product - but I also knew the average person at home isn’t going to paste a link into VirusTotal. It needed to be simple. Something a 65 year old would actually use without being coached.
I asked around and the most common answer I got was “just ask ChatGPT.” That told me there wasn’t really a purpose-built solution sitting in this space, at least not one targeted at everyday users.
What I’ve built is a detection engine. String-based heuristic checks run locally, then external APIs - VirusTotal, Google Safe Browsing - handle deeper analysis when needed. URLs are submitted to build out the database over time, which is the point - the more data that feeds through it, the better the detection gets. I’ve leaned on Claude to fill the dev gaps, which has moved things along a lot faster than going it alone.
The web browser engine is the foundation. Browser extension and mobile apps are the access layers I’m working toward. The Australian-specific angle matters too - local brand impersonation doesn’t get weighted properly by global scanners.
Genuine question for this community: is there a real gap here or am I solving something that’s already solved and I’m just not seeing it? And if you’ve got a non-technical family member who actually uses something for this, I’d like to know what it is.